Chapter 3 (1/2)
[]
”Ehh? What does that mean???”
Kamijou was not the only one thrown into chaos
Night had fallen and all of the day's tournament matches were over, so it was ti aday's finals
Aogami Pierce and the other employees were in complete disarray on the center's main floor
The ave a troubled look
”Like I said, a reinvestigation of the Virtuaroids' actions shows that quite a few units areactions theoretically impossible even with the publicly available Material analyze Si Defected PDs …We hadn't noticed until now, so I can only assu body doubles, sealed cradles, or other tricks to hide it There also seee ru Scan”
That was of course cheating
Once it was discovered, they could punish the them
However…
”I said there were quite a few, right?”
”Don't tell me…”
”23 teams participated in thein over half of the a Defected device And it er than the legal Virtuaroids, so of course a lot of them will show up in the tournament”
”But if we punish all of them…”
”Yes, the tournaood is sending them to the finals? People just won't care”
But they could not continue as is either because it would look like a farce
It a That was just how much he loved Virtual-On
”Whatever we do, don't we have to contact them first? We need to settle this with them somehow”
”About that”
Another dark look cae
There's ami Pierce
”We can't reach them”
”Huh?”
”We can't contact the I thought theyour calls or ran off because they think we're onto the the few safe tea, I couldn't reach them either Since they haven't Defected, they wouldn't need to avoid the call or run off”
”You mean…wait, what does that mean?”
”I don't know” The ed ”All I know is that the tourna It's al”
This was no longer just about the tournament
Without the contestants, the entire event was dead in the water
There was sure to be a a an explanation It ument
But so in on them that overshadowed that normal sort of problem
Aoga within the failed tournament
(What is going on in this city?)
The ”match” was finally over
Temjin disappeared and Kamijou Touma was left all alone in the airport
The girl who had supposedly been there before was gone
There was only silence
And an unbearable chill
The spiky-haired boy could no longer stand on his oo feet He lost his balance and staggered 2 or 3 steps to the left He bumped into the side of a fuel tanker truck He then slid down to the ground like drool pulled down by gravity
Where had he gone wrong?
What could he have chosen to avoid this future?
He thought and thought but found no answer It was so unreasonable and had happened so suddenly that he could not perform any self-analysis
He had an enemy to defeat: the Blue Stalker
But even that thought did not light a fire in his chest He could tell so dark and soot-like was caked over his heart, but that did not give him the power needed to cheer himself up
The sense of loss was so great that he did not even shi+ft into proper anger
He could not
Kaotten how to form emotions
”…This is just painful to watch”
He heard a voice
For a while, he did not even look in that direction The speaker did notfor him to move Finally, Kamijou ever-so-slowly turned his head as stiffly as a doll to view the source of the voice
He sahite-haired, red-eyed monster
This was Academy City's 1, the peak of the seven Level 5s
That shadow naht on a modern-style cane and waved some papers that looked like some kind of report
”I just have one question: do you have it in you to keep going?”
Kaishly but desperately tried to understand those words All while thinking no amount of sleep deprivation would slow his mind this much
”Why should I keep going?” heit all ”I can fight and fight and fight…but what does that get , and then lose so I can't afford to lose…”
”Don't ask me,” cruelly spat out the monster ”Only someone who's actually reached the end can tell you that At the very least, so the ascent can't talk about the scenery from the mountain peak”
The next thing Kae scythe in the hand not holding his modern-style cane It seemed to have appeared from thin air and it was Ifleesa, Specineff's weapon
This was the same as the Apharmd and Grys-Vok that had attacked Furashi+na Ririn
In that case, what did Specineff specialize in?
”If you want, I can contaminate your mind and erase your memories How about it? Do you want to live out your life oblivious to the gaping wound in your back thanks to soe anesthetic?”
He felt a slight pain deep in his head
That pain insisted that it would never be healed no ive up So the only question hat kind of pain he could bear
Would he continue on and be wounded?
Or would he smile and be wounded?
Which would you prefer, Kamijou Touma?
”…That's…right”
He felt like soether in his chest
He silently ainst He once radually stood up
”I can sit around worrying after I've seen this through to the end There has to be more I can do”
Accelerator did not offer him his hand
The 1 simply waited until the end
”You weren't supposed to need this” He shoved the report into Kamijou's chest ”But you do now that you've taken this step Don't forget your position here”
”What is this…?”
”An internal investigation report on that insane bastard known as the Blue Stalker Although I'iven how out there a lot of it is”
Kaood memories when it caed you down into depthless darkness And that was bound to be even truer when it was given to him by the peak of Academy City who existed in the underside of the city
”How did you get this?”
”I siot involved in a different way but ended up in the same place as you”
Kaht about the dark world Accelerator lived in, but…
”If it had to do with that, I would've just ignored it”
Ka sounds as Accelerator carelessly threw round
They were portable devices
Their LCD screens were broken, their interior chips were exposed, and they were clearly all dead
”You…”
”I've already serous people hanging around the adround site who saw hiiven up on life thanks to his own unnecessary efforts”
He implicitly revealed that there had been a completely separate path to this incident and that Kamijou Touma simply had not seen it He had overcome as much hardshi+p as Kamijou to come this far
”It seems Virtual-On was spread to benefit the Blue Stalker in so the infor for it all as a sponsor, and more, but it looks like I ultimately didn't make it in time”
Then what else had happened?
Did this ht of day?
Was there soether?
Kaave him a look of pure doubt, but it did not seeive all the answers
Accelerator looked away in annoyance and clicked his tongue before speaking
”To put it another way, that's what inal's been turned into an NPC, the only way to grant that brat's wish is to switchthe losers recover”
The 1 did not try to say anything more
He toohe had to prioritize above all else
And it was so with Kamijou
Even so, Kah all of the text found there
And he did it of his own free will
Investigation Report on Target: Blue Stalker
Nae: 25 Estiin: Unknown Education/Job History: Unknown
All of the estimated entries are based on witness information and acquired samples, but ere unable to identify a clear individual fro was interfering with our analysis and enetic infor the analysis, but I unfortunately must report that it will be difficult to ensure any results
My honest iet individual This is true of electronic infor ine any norhly
Hethe information As we feared, the information may never have existed in the first place
There are a few theories concerning how to create so, but this appears to be different from a phenomenon like Kazakiri Hyouka (As a side note, that example seems to apply better to Furashi+na Ririn For details, refer to the report on her)
The Blue Stalker uses technology from a system entirely different froe via Virtual-On (We made a few different attempts to artificially end that trend, but they all ended in failure For details, refer to the report on that issue) We doubt all of this popped up overnight by coincidence, so the Blue Stalker must have been involved in some way
One of the theories proposed by the Board of Directors is a parallel world, but this cannot be explained using our leading theory in which history acts like a rubber string
The rubber string theory states that there is only one world and various parallel worlds are newly created when an alternate turn is taken at a branch We picture it like placing pegs on a pinball or pachinkoacross the board so that it fors bend it every which way, so it isthere is only one history and that it can be freely manipulated
On the other hand, explaining the Blue Stalker requires a theory in which there are multiple worlds that exist literally parallel to each other
The rubber string theory exists along a single line of history, but if we view that history as a flat rubber string, perhaps there is actually a bundle of countless strings Or perhaps there is a reverse side to it like a storage tape
That is enough discussion of theories and philosophy for now, but the point is that the Blue Stalker surpasses all of that
He comes from a world where e call Virtual-On is perfectly normal
It is unknohat the Blue Stalker is atte to another world, but its effects will be too great
There is a fear this will conflict with the Academy City style of esper develop a broad interpretation of quantum theory This could easily threaten the very existence of Academy City itself
We are considering sending in the Kiharas
Furashi+na Ririn similarly requires immediate action
”What is this…?”
Kaain as he read and reread the text and tried to consider what it said He was fairly certain he had not understood even half of it
Accelerator shrugged
”It says our enemy is from another world Sounds like a bad joke to me”
”No, not that”
”Ah?”
”Why is Furashi+na said to be as dangerous as the Blue Stalker?”
There is no fairl naests she first appeared as posts on a few s
At first, he did not understand what it meant
But as he continued reading, an unpleasant sweat covered his face
Afterwards, a girl going by the name Furashi+na Ririn was actually seen in a few places
His hands shook
He felt a powerful discrepancy bethat he had seen with his own eyes and the cold text of this report
We predict her existence cairl created as a means to save the NPC players and a technique to 'pull back up' those who had sunk
The conclusion felt like a finishi+ng blow
Kamijou suppressed his dizziness and read that final text
There are traces of the Blue Stalkers' involve the rumors, so it can be assureatly influenced by his goals Caution is needed
”…I can't believe this”
He recalled when Furashi+na Ririn was nearly abducted in the twilit streets
Had that been connected to the Blue Stalker too?
The Blue Stalker had some kind of malicious plan, but what if he had always needed to let Furashi+na Ririn walk free for a while and then capture her?
If Furashi+na Ririn was his goal, would he sit idly by now? And if not, ould he attack to get his hands on her?
”Goddammit… Index!!”
The es
The balcony glass was shattered and a chilly night wind blew through the living area
There was no sign of life in the dark room
There was no one there
Not Index and not Furashi+na Ririn
There was no point in asking who had done this He did not even consider the possibility that the Blue Stalker had not been involved and that Furashi+na Ririn had harmed Index In this case, the most likely suspect was the culprit No other possibility came to mind
Kamijou Touma slowly took a breath in the trashed student dorm
His senses had numbed over
Furashi+na Ririn had likely been abducted by the Blue Stalker
But what about Index?
She had only just met Furashi+na and had not had much of an opportunity to speak with her, so they would not have been that close But if Furashi+na was being taken away before her eyes, would Index have just watched?
And if she had not, ould have happened?
What would the Blue Stalker have done when Index resisted?
This eneician, so he would not be fixated on the 103,000 gri her and getting information out of her, hoould the Blue Stalker have disposed of that nuisance?
The ih its chest came to mind
As did the face of Misaka Mikoto who had been lost along with the unit
Had that happened here too?
Had the Blue Stalker shown no mercy?
For an instant
Just an instant
Ka out from his chest
That hen he heard a quiet mew
”Sphinx?”
The calico cat stuck its head out froer Spotting Kamijou, it trotted over
This less
The cat surviving would not bring Index or Furashi+na Ririn back
But
Even so
That one reht was normal helped Kamijou relax his muscles somewhat
He felt the truly hopeless blackness inside his chest recede somewhat
He crouched down, picked up the kitten, and spoke
”Sorry, Sphinx It'll take a while longer to clean up the rooive me just a little bit of time?”
The cat could not understand hu sure his own limiter was in place
He set the cat back down and left the door-less room
After leaving the dor on his modern-style cane
”What're you going to do?”
”I have even more reason to kick the Blue Stalker's ass now, so that's exactly what I'll do”
”How exactly?”
”I'll use everything available to me …Even if that means help from you”
”You're asking me to lend you firepower?”
”No”
Accelerator frowned a bit when Kamijou immediately cut him off
Then the spiky-haired boy said it
”I want you to stop me if I seriously try to kill the Blue Stalker That's the help I want”
He spoke quietly
But that did not mean there was no emotion behind his voice
Accelerator had met a variety of monsters and come in contact with many forms of malice
But he could not ignore the darkness he saw in those eyes
(…Fine, then)
”I don't really care, but where are you going to start? Surely you aren't going to head back out without knohere you're going”
If Kamijou had no answer, Accelerator intended to punch him out and deal with this on his own, but Ka answer
”I have one clue We just have to hope Anti-Skill hasn't acted yet”
It was late at night in the hospital where the crashed van's driver had been transported for eency care
But he had no life-threatening injuries and only had soht whiplash in his neck Anti-Skill had insisted he be hospitalized regardless In other words, so seemed fishy about the crash, so they had hi
Being hospitalized for such light injuries was odd and it was incredibly unusual to be given a private roonore the doctors and head home
And that h it ell past visiting hours
They were Kamijou Touma and Accelerator
The man in the bed wheezed like a whistle when he received these rude late-night visitors
”Ee, ee”
”I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I can see from your reaction that you knoe're already 'acquainted'”
”E-eek! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!?”
He frantically reached for the nurse call button and rapidly tapped it with his thumb
But there was no response
So had stabbed into the top end of the bed
It was the grim reaper's scythe
Accelerator had su with the s
”We could always ask you our questions after I destroy your head with 'this',” said the white monster
”A-abhah!? Abrbah! Please wait! I'm in the hospital!!”
”No”
Ka chair for visitors and walked over to the bed All while holding a blunt weapon that could probably s it down
”One of them was Grys-Vok The other was Apharht! You can't use electronics in the hospital, can you? Then I guess you don't have that Defected portable device that makes you so special You can't pull out your prized Virtuaroid weapon”
He was defenseless
Now that he was reminded of that, the man trembled and asked a question
”Wh-hy are you here!?”
”Oh, no reason! I'ood friend the Blue Stalker 'killed' two girls I know, I' to you He's an exception I saw hih play check and the NPC player issue to fire straight through the V-Converter on a Virtuaroid's back and eli even if that happens to you Oh, but will you turn into an NPC if it happens when you aren't in a Virtuaroid? Or will you just be burnt to cinders? What do you think will happen?”
The man's mouth flapped wordlessly and he looked up at Accelerator, in search of help
He felt such great pressure that thea more obvious weapon seemed like the safer option
Still s, Kamijou slowly sat down in the chair
”And with that in mind, we'd like to ask you some questions HowFurashi+na for hiers”
”I-I can't tell you that You know he'll kill me!!”
”Letelse” Kamijou spoke each word carefully ”Do you still not knoe found you here?”
”Eh? Um…well…”
”How many hospitals do you think there are in Academy City? hell, let's just narrow it down to District 7 alone There would normally be no way to knohich hospital an ambulance will visit after an accident Unless, that is, some internal information leaks out And if we could do it, what makes you think the Blue Stalker can't?”
”Y-you don't mean…?”
”I said one of them was Grys-Vok and the other was Apharmd, didn't I? Do you not knohat happened to them?”
How could he know?
He had been confined to this room ever since taken to the hospital and the TV news had only mentioned that there was a traffic accident
But if these two had located this hospital right away…
”Anyone will do what it takes to stay alive,” said Kaht sell it to someone else too I mean, you 3 failed your job and let Furashi+na Ririn escape The Blue Stalker is pissed He can't have his infored to go into hiding, so they ht have a chance to recover But you? Not so ood side”
”That's not true… That can't be true!! Marika and Takato have worked with reat team! Th-they wouldn't just sell me out like that!”
”If you say so Well, we'll be going”
”Ah? Eh?”
Kanored the confused man and turned back toward Accelerator
He stood up fro chair and spoke
”He can apparently handle this on his own I'm worried about the Grys-Vok and Aphare on his oe can try elsewhere”
”…Are you sure? He's al to die”
”He's convinced otherwise, so there's nothing we can do And on't get anything by forcing an injured man to talk”
”What a fool If we could defeat the Blue Stalker, he uess he prefers almost certain death”
”Again, he says he'll handle it in our stead Let's take him at his word and just protect the Grys-Vok and Apharmd until the storht? The fewer sacrifices the better, even if we can't reduce it to zero”
They both breathed an exasperated sigh and readily started for the hospital room's exit
That careless treatment caused unease to rapidly swell up in the man's chest
…Almost like someone had slapped a ”limited time only” sticker onto a product he had not particularly wanted
”W-ait-wait!!”
”…Yes?”
Kamijou looked back and words flowed from the man's mouth like a tap had been opened
”I don't know much! I don't really know the Blue Stalker! I was only hired to kidnap that Furashi+na Ririn kid and take her to him!!”
”Sigh That's not really enough to set up an ambush for him”
”I'll tell you everything I know!! We were paid via an online bank He of course tried to eliive you the data A-and ere given a location to take the kid! Of course, I'h, so I doubt anyone'll show up if you lie in wait there But…!!”
”The Blue Stalker was building up a foundation in Acade what he inherited from a certain old man,” said Accelerator ”But people aren't as easy to inherit asfor the old man, but the Blue Stalker could only use the very lowest members At that level, they probably didn't even know they orking as that old man's pawns”
”Eh? Huh?”
”The Blue Stalkersomewhere with a view of the drop-off point And if he was there for long enough, he ht have left some kind of trace”
”W-will I be…safe?”
”You'd better pray on that one Oh, and one other thing”
”Wh-what?”
Kamijou asked one final question of the fearful man
”How much do you know about Furashi+na Ririn?”
”Aleneral field of activity Also…”
”We were told she's tougher than she looks, so it would take quite a lot to kill her”
Now that they had the necessary information, Kamijou and Accelerator really did leave the hospital room
The 1 monster sounded half-exasperate as he walked down the dark hallway
”You're a scary guy”
”How led with monsters like you? I have far too htening young man for a bluff”
Kae weight bearing down on his shoulders
But he was unaware
Getting whatever inforer on someone was a feat that not even many in the city's dark side could pull off with much success
The first thing they did was visit a waste treatment plant in District 7
Most trash in Academy City was recycled, but it was far more active at some times than others Si, so it was coht It did not handle valuable materials, so the security was lax and it was easy to sneak into That erous deals s that were already marked as hotbeds of crime
And…
”There are tire tracks froe trucks”
Accelerator crouched down and traced his fingers across the asphalt
”And based on the way they overlap, this is the topmost one…it's relatively fresh It may have been after the place shut down for the day”
”Can we really follow that?”
”Even you can do it now”
Accelerator spoke with atone and pulled out his portable device
He airound
”The Material analyze?”
”Lilina, scan this tire track But expand the definition and selection range to cover the entirety of the track”
The shtScan
It was alh the screen, even the faint tire track was highlighted so it was visible with the naked eye His selection was literally visualized
The Material analyze required approaching the target, but as long as it was connected by a single line, it fell within the selection range noa car froather inforle unit